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INDIA - PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), an industry body has called for amendment to Land Ceiling Act and abolition of agriculture produce marketing committee (APMC) Act to draw massive corporate sector participation in agriculture and enable farmers to obtain optimum realisation of their produce, shunting out middlemen and speculators from mandis.

The industry body called this at the Agronomics 2014, a brainstorming session on Impact on Economic Growth & Inflation organised recently by PHDCCI.

In a session paper presented by India Meteorological Department (IMD), NABARD and industry consisting of IMD’s Head of Agromet Services Dr K K Singh and Vice President NABARD Consultancy Services, Arun M Tallur and Vice President PHD Chamber, Mahesh Gupta, its Economic Affairs Committee Chairman and Co-Chairman, Gopal Jiwarajka and Shyam Poddar, in addition to Chairman Agri Business Committee, PHD Chamber, N M Kejriwal concurred that institutional reforms until put in place for agriculture sector, its productivity and yield is unlikely to scale up.

The session called for the abolition of APMC Act that will enable farmers to let them claim their legitimate share in their produce to sell off directly to consumers and prevent them from getting into agriculture marketing via mandi routes which currently prevail due to existence of the APMC Act although several states have brought in amendments to it but the Act needs to be scraped throughout the country further stressed the brainstorming session, PHDCCI said in a statement.

It also session emphasised that amendment to Land Ceiling Act is at once called for to facilitate entry of corporates in farming especially those of fruit, vegetables and grains including animal husbandry so that their investments pour in.

Since the government does not allow land ceiling beyond a point for corporates, they are reluctant to diversify into agriculture which deny its investment, technologies, tools and implements and thus restrict its productivity and yield at levels currently stagnated at, the session adds.

Though inflation has been posing a major challenge to India’s growth story with agri products prices skyrocketing, it can be handled properly provided supply side of it is addressed properly with increased public investments in agriculture sector and suggested institutional reforms, the statement adds.